The Canadian Section of the International College of Dentists is pleased to present feature articles on the activities and involvement of Canadian Fellows that would be of interest to the entire membership. It is hoped that the articles would act to inspire others and expose the Canadian Fellows to many the diverse interests and talents of its membership.

Our inaugural article features the Canadian Section President, Dr. Glen Zenith from Section 2.


As the new President of the Canadian Section of the International College of Dentists, I am honoured to share with you a recent experience that has been an important part of my professional and personal life.

In May 2010, I was asked by the Founder and CEO of Kindness In Action if I would serve as Team Leader for a volunteer Dental and Medical Brigade to Cambodia in February 2011. The Cambodian Mission would be my eighth tour with Kindness In Action (KIA). Previous KIA missions had taken me to Honduras three times, Nicaragua twice, and Peru and Venezuela as a team leader. The 2011 brigade to Cambodia was the second trip, sponsored and organized by KIA, to this South Asian nation.

Kindness in Action started in 1993 with 3 friends sharing a coffee around a kitchen table. It has grown to an organization that this year is sending out over 200 volunteers to seven different projects worldwide. At the core of KIA's beliefs is that all people are to be treated with dignity and be given basic human needs, as much as we are able to provide, and the environment from which we work is to be non- partisan and entirely volunteer based.

Each mission on which I have served has brought its own stories, unique experiences and left each volunteer changed forever in some small way.

Kindness In Action trips have a reputation not only for the wonderful work that is done but just as importantly for the gracious volunteers. And the trips are a lot of fun.

The 2011 Cambodian KIA brigade had 22 volunteers. Our group included one family physician, 7 general dentists, four registered Dental Hygienists, a nurse and two certified Dental Assistants. The remaining volunteers were lay people just wanting to lend a helping hand and experience life in a foreign country.

The travel time to Phnom Penh via Seoul, S. Korea, was over 24 hours with a 13 hour time zone change. As is common with KIA missions, the first day on foreign soil is usually spent in activities that introduce the group to some of the local history and culture. To this end, our 73-year-old mission organizer and guardian angel, Mr. Peter Heyes, from Saint Albert, Alberta, arranged for us to visit 'Site 21' (more commonly called the 'Killing Fields') and the mammoth 'Royal Palace'. A very sad part of the Cambodian history was the genocide of an estimated 2 million Cambodians during the Communist rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-79. The execution of anyone with a position of education or influence bankrupted this country of its own intellectuals and the impact is seen to this very day.

Our first day of work as a mobile dental team started at an orphanage outside of Phnom Penh called 'Peaceful Children's Home 1'. After spending less than an hour setting up the entire clinic, we were ready to receive our first Cambodian patients. To the dismay of the group, some of the equipment needed to set up the second operating dental unit had not arrived. This left us with only one operating dental unit to allow restorative treatment. Our dental mission from this point forward would now need to focus on extractions and providing scaling/prophylaxis and oral hygiene instructions through our interpreters. Following our second workday, we were treated to a song and dance evening given by the sixty plus orphans who also had prepared for us a simple chicken and rice dinner. As a brigade, we spent 2 long days working at the Peaceful Children's Home 1 in very hot conditions. On the last day at Phnom Penh, we passed the hat, collecting $380.00 which was presented to Son Soubert, the founder and leader of the two Peaceful Children's Homes orphanages where we worked. This would guarantee that the children of the orphanages could be served at least one meal of noodles per week. (Noodles are considered a treat in Cambodia.)

A five hour bus ride on our fourth day took our group north to Battambong where we spent two days working at the Roman Catholic Centre. This centre serves as community centre, school and teaching centre for Jesuit priests. Our patients again were primarily young school children. It is worth noting that education in Cambodia is not mandatory. For this reason we were advised to not buy goods from children in the streets and encouraged the street children we did meet to go to school. Following our two 9 hour days working at the RC Centre, our next 2 working days were spent at Son Soubert's Peaceful Children's Home 2. Like all the venues we worked at while in Cambodia, the conditions here were very hot, as we worked on the second floor of a tin roof building. Our work was appreciated by all that were seen and treated. Tears of appreciation, and thank yous were accompanied by an abundance of hugs from our many patients as we boarded our bus on the last day.

Our final dental clinic was set up in the sanctuary of the Catholic Church at the remote rural village of Chomnaom. Approximately 100 elementary school students were all thoroughly instructed in oral hygiene and a full day of restorative and surgical pediatric work in 40 degree conditions made for a very exhausting but gratifying day. Noticing that the village had no source of potable water, 3 of the volunteers decided to arrange for and share in the cost of digging a well, which was completed several months later. Through the three volunteers and with the help of the parish priest, Chomaom today has a source of clean, potable water.

When our work was done, our brigade of volunteers had seen and treated 600 dental patients and provided medical services to 165. Our small group performed 268 cleanings, restored the teeth of 137 people and extracted 1066 advanced carious teeth. 345 children were given personal instructions on how to properly care for their teeth.

The final two days in Cambodia were spent as tourists in the historic, mysterious and very picturesque temple complex of Angkor Wat. Rich in centuries-old history, this national treasure left us in awe as we explored the many temples on this sacred ground. An important mandate of the ICD is to support the provision of dental services to the underprivileged through a variety of dental service organizations. While our Cambodian mission was not directly supported by ICD, the ICD supports a variety of organizations with a similar goal. At the Canadian Section annual meeting in Halifax this past August, the ICD donated $47,000.00 to fund nine different humanitarian dental projects. When I met him at our Halifax meeting this past August, the honourable Life Fellow and Past President, Dr. Frank Lovely, enlightened me how the ICD fills an important role to many of our Fellows who wish to support volunteer dental projects but cannot physically serve in providing dental services directly.

In closing, I wish to pass on a continued 'thank you' to everyone in the very cooperative, cheerful and selfless group of hard-working volunteers that I had the privilege of leading. Without their dedication and good cheer, this mission to Cambodia never would have been as successful as it was. The biggest thank you goes out to KIA Founder, Dr. Amil Shapka, who was recently honoured by the Alberta Dental Association and College and Association and was awarded the very prestigious Medal of Service for his local and International Volunteer organization.

Looking back at the many photographs taken in Cambodia there are many wonderful memories that will be with me for a long time to come. The services provided by the brigade and goodwill shown by both the local people and our Canadian volunteers are small steps in the direction of creating a brighter future for this country. The sharing of our skills not only has helped those we came to serve, but as is often the case, enriched the lives of the KIA volunteers both personally and professionally. Every volunteer on this mission will tell you that they are better off today than they were before Cambodia. Therein lies the phrase that summarizes our trip the best, "Changing one Life at a time"


Interpreter at the Killing Fields



Skull Display at Killing Fields Memorial


Khmer Rouge admittance photos of detainees




Group photo of KIA brigade with members from Peaceful Children’s Home 1


Smiles and cheers from the orphans at Peaceful Children’s Home 1


Patient with Cambodian wheelchair/bicycle



Group tour of Angkor Wat


Angkor Wat


Angkor Wat